


Fortunes Of War

by rosied



Category: Top Gear (UK) RPF
Genre: Airplanes, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Historical, M/M, RAF - Freeform, Royal Air Force, World War II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-01
Updated: 2016-01-01
Packaged: 2018-05-10 22:42:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5603632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosied/pseuds/rosied
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for prompt: James and Richard, pilots in t'War - flying bravely during WWII and developing feelings for one another.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fortunes Of War

**Author's Note:**

> Written for downthepub for the TGS Secret Santa 2015.

Flight Lieutenant Richard Hammond of No. 98 Squadron was waiting anxiously on the tarmac of RAF Dunsfold, watching for the plane being flown by his best friend, Flight Lieutenant James May, to return from the bombing mission they'd flown over Lille. It wasn't at all unusual for James to be the last pilot to get back, which had earned him the nickname 'Captain Slow', and the pilots of the other two planes in his flight had reported that he'd told them to go on ahead while he checked the damage caused to the target, but even by his standards he was overdue.

Flight Sergeant Oakley, the senior mechanic for the squadron, known to all as Simmy, came to join him. “I'm sure he's going to be OK, sir, the weather's perfect and he knows the plane like the back of his hand!”

“That's true enough - for all he claims to hate 'this new-fangled American crap', he loves that plane like it was his baby! You know, when we first got Mitchells, he watched the training film non-stop - I thought the projectionist was going to kill him when he asked to see it again for the sixth time! And he must know the complete manual off by heart... Just as long as he didn't run into those Fockes we saw in the distance...” Richard suddenly stopped speaking, alert, then said, “I think I can hear something!”

Simmy stood quite still, listening. “Yes, you're right - there's a plane heading this way, and it definitely sounds like a Mitchell. But there's something not quite right about it... bloody hell, it's coming in on one engine!”

“If it's James flying, he'll get it down all right - you'll see! The training film showed us that so he knows exactly how to do it - and he's a brilliant pilot too!” Richard was trying to convince himself as well as Simmy.

After what seemed like an eternity to the waiting men, the plane came into view. It was James' plane, but smoke was coming from the port engine, and as the plane slowed down for the landing, flames started up as well.

Almost immediately the fire tender and ambulance erupted from their hangar, bells clanging loudly, and went tearing across the airfield towards the approximate area that the plane would touch down. People appeared from offices, billets and hangars to find out what was going on.

Richard's heart was in his throat as the plane made its landing approach. “Come on, James, you can do it!” Somehow, James got the plane down in one piece, slamming on the brakes the instant he could. Even before the plane came to a halt, the flight crew leapt out of the plane and scattered in various directions, but there was no sign of the two pilots; the smoke that by now was pouring out of the engine made it impossible to see any movement in the cockpit. Richard tried to get the attention of someone from the flight crew, but they all ignored him. He started towards the plane, but Simmy grabbed hold of him. “You'd better stay back, sir, it's not safe. If they're not coming out it's because they can't.”

At that moment, Smith, the co-pilot, jumped out of the cockpit and ran towards them.

Richard blocked his way. “James... what's happened to him?” he demanded breathlessly.

“His safety belt is jammed - I tried to unjam it, but it's completely stuck! I had to get out before the plane exploded!”

Richard went white. “You utter coward!”

He suddenly jammed his elbow hard into Simmy's ribs, winding him badly and causing him to lose his hold. Then he was running towards the plane, ignoring everyone yelling at him to get back.

Richard climbed into the plane through the escape hatch at the front of the plane that the nose gunner had left open, and up into the cockpit.

“Get out of here, Richard!” James yelled. “You can't do anything for me, the safety belt is jammed tight!”

“Shut up! Either I get you out of here or we're going together!” Richard whipped out a combat knife and attacked the safety belt frantically. In a matter of seconds it was cut through. He dragged James out of the seat and together they pushed out the top hatch, climbed out and leapt down onto the tarmac. Then they were running for their lives, trying to get clear of the plane before it exploded. When it happened, they were still close enough to feel the heat, and were knocked flying by the blast.

People rushed over to help them to their feet, asking worriedly if they were OK. At first they were too stunned to react, and their ears were ringing too loudly for them to hear anything. Once Richard came to himself, he realised that the person assisting him was Smith, and promptly punched him on the nose. James dragged him away before he could go any further, telling him that he had ordered the man to get out. Richard muttered that if it had been him he would have ignored the order. He looked daggers at Smith, but allowed himself to be pulled away.

One of the company clerks ran up to them. “Flight Lieutenant May, the CO wants you to report to him right away, sir.”

James winced. “He's probably going to tear a strip off me for ruining one of his kites.”

“No, he'll be happy that you all got out safely - the plane doesn't matter!”

James shook his head. “I'm not so sure he'll feel the same way.”

The MO, who had arrived hard on the heels of the clerk, interrupted at this point. “You're not going anywhere until I've looked you over. My compliments to the WingCo, Corporal, and tell him that Flight Lieutenant May will be along after I've finished with him. Hammond, the same applies to you, so stop trying to sneak off.”

The corporal departed at a trot, and the MO practically dragged the two pilots over to his office despite their protests. He gave them a thorough going-over but didn't find any lasting problems; even the ringing in their ears was starting to die down.

As soon as the MO was done with them, James headed over to Wing Commander Phillips' office. Richard insisted on going with him, saying that he didn't want to let James out of his sight, otherwise heaven only knew what disaster would happen to him. James pointed out that the chances of a disaster happening at the aerodrome were fairly low unless the whole of the Luftwaffe decided to pay a visit, but made no real objection to Richard's company.

The Wing Commander looked up at their entrance, “Ah, you're here at last, May, and I see you've got Hammond with you. Good. I wanted to have a word with you after I'd finished with May. So, May, exactly how did you manage to blow up one of my aircraft?”

”Well, sir, after we'd completed the bombing run, I waited for the smoke to clear a bit, so I could see if we'd done a good job - which we did, by the way, and I took a few photos to make the Brass happy. Then on the way back, just before we got to the French coast, we had the bad luck to bump into a Focke coming the other way - obviously also a straggler.”

“Captain Slow meets Kapitän Langsam,” Richard joked.

They both snickered, then subsided hastily under Phillips' glare.

James continued his story. “The gun crew did a great job, and got one of his engines, but unfortunately he returned the favour before he disengaged, and the port engine packed up. I managed to nurse the plane back across the Channel and just made it to Dunsfold. I suppose the speed we were flying at kept the smoke down because I didn't realise the engine was actually on fire until we were coming in to land.”

“And did you by any chance remember to take the camera with you when you got out of the plane?”

“Err...”

“I see. In that case, don't stick around to watch the pretty fireworks in future, May - just because people call you Captain Slow, it doesn't mean you have to live up to it! Spare bombers don't grow on trees, you know! I've a good mind to make you fill in all the paperwork for this!”

“Yes, sir. Understood. And I'll be more than happy to do the paperwork.”

Phillips sighed. “No, thank you, I want it finished before the war is over.” He turned his attention to Richard. “And as for you, Hammond - what in God's name did you think you were doing? That plane was about to explode - you could both have been killed!”

“I don't care! I wasn't going to let James die like that!”

“I care though! We need all the men we can get to win this war. I know it sounds callous, but it's reality! Don't you see, man?”

Richard said nothing, but from the expression on his face it was obvious that he had no intention of heeding the Wing Commander's words.

“I'd do the same if the situation were reversed, sir,” James said quietly, drawing Phillips' attention away from Richard.

“Yes, I suppose you would. I don't imagine anything I could say would change that.” Phillips looked at the two of them for a moment, then shook his head. “All right, you can go - and try to stay out of trouble, the pair of you. I don't want to hear any gossip that I'll have to take notice of.”

Richard looked surprised. “But what about what I did to Smith?”

James kicked him on the ankle to make him shut up.

The CO said, “He says he tripped over a stone on the tarmac and injured his face. Isn't that correct?”

James kicked Richard again.

“Ow! Err, that is... yessir!”

“Good! Make sure it doesn't happen again. Dismissed!”

The two pilots left the office thankfully.

“Where are we going now?” asked Richard.

“Back to the billet - I don't know about you, but I want to get out of this flying gear.”

“Yeah, me too!” agreed Richard. He paused. “James, what did the Old Man mean about not wanting to hear any gossip about us?”

“We'll discuss it when we get back to the billet. In the meantime, I want to know why on earth you're carrying a combat knife around with you?”

“In case my safety belt gets stuck, you idiot!”

When they got to their room, James closed the door and dragged a chair against it so no-one could barge in without warning. Then he drew the curtains.

“What are you doing, James?”

“You wanted to know what the Old Man meant. I don't want anyone hearing any of this - it would go very badly for us.”

“What do you mean? What could gossip do to us? 'Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words will never harm us', right?”

“Not in this case.” James pulled his flying jacket off, threw it on the floor and sat down on his bed, his head in his hands.

“James...” Richard went over and sat next to him. “What's wrong?”

“I just don't know how to say this... have you heard of 'the love that dare not speak its name'?”

Richard's face cleared. “Oh, you mean he thinks we're queers!”

“ _Richard!_ Keep your voice down!!” James shot up off the bed and went to the door, listening.

“What is your problem, James? I was just talking at my usual volume, and besides, everyone will be at the Officer's Mess, the way they are after every mission.”

“Yes, and we should be there too, otherwise people will start talking!” James moved the chair out of the way and put his hand on the door handle.

“James, wait!”

James stopped what he was doing, but remained facing away from him, his forehead pressed against the door. Tension was evident in every line of his body.

“We'll tell them we were shaken up from the explosion,” Richard said. “No-one will think twice about it! I don't know why you're so worried about people talking - it's not as if we're together or anything...." Richard broke off and looked at James thoughtfully. He got up, went over to James and put a hand on his shoulder, feeling him flinch at the contact. “Or is it that you'd like us to be together?”

James whirled round to face Richard, knocking Richard's hand off his shoulder as he did so. “We can't be! Don't you know what would happen if we were caught? We'd be court-martialled, dishonourably discharged. We might even end up in prison. Whatever happened, our lives would be ruined!”

Richard shrugged. “So we just don't get caught.”

“How can you be so calm about this?”

“I spent a lot of time with my Uncle John. He's that way inclined.”

“Your parents allowed it? Do they know about him?”

“Oh yes - it's one of those family secrets. Everyone knows and no-one talks about it. He lives with his friend, Uncle Robert, me and my cousins call him.”

“Don't people talk about two men living together?”

“Not really. They're both doctors and have a joint practice, so no-one thinks about it much. And their housekeeper is devoted to them - they got her grand-daughter through a bout of pneumonia that nearly killed her, and she'd do anything for them. I reckon she'd lie through her teeth for them in court if it came to that.” Richard smiled reminiscently. “I remember the stories Uncle John used to tell me about people like Alexander and Hephaistion… I thought it was all very romantic - still do, to be honest. I've rather thought of the two of us being like Alexander and Hephaistion... apart from being lovers, that is, until now, but if you wanted to, I wouldn't say no.”

“Alexander and Hephaistion... you... _meant_ what you said in the plane about us going together, then?”

“Of course I did!” Richard looked hurt. “Isn't that what you meant when you told the Old Man you'd do the same?”

“Yes, it is, I just didn't realise you knew about... I do want to... look, let's sit down.” He sat on the bed, taking Richard's hand and pulling him down too, and keeping hold of Richard's hand as they sat together. “I've told you I was reading Classics at Bristol University before the War broke out, and that's basically Greek and Roman literature and history. We covered Alexander and Hephaistion, and several other warrior pairs, in great detail.. I did wonder about that professor, actually. And yes, I thought it was romantic too.”

“So have you ever...?”

“There was someone at Bristol, in his last year when I was in my first. I really looked up to him, thought for a while... but after he graduated, he just left with hardly a goodbye and went off to do the expected thing - marriage, family...” James sighed. “It took me a long time to get over him. There hasn't been anyone since, until you. What about you?”

“No. Even though I found the idea romantic, I never thought I'd really want that kind of friendship myself. Not until I met you. I knew the moment I saw you, but I was sure you wouldn't feel the same way.”

“It was the same for me.”

Richard's face lit up, and he moved closer to James, but James drew back. “No, wait a moment, Richard - I want to be with you, very much, but I don't want to just rush into this either... Maybe it would be better if we waited until after the war to do anything about it. It would be safer, we could find somewhere where we can be together like your uncles...”

“James, think about where we are, what we're doing! There might not _be_ an 'after the war' for us. Either of us, or both of us, might get killed on the next mission, and if I'm left alone I don't want to be mourning what might have been as well as... not that it would be for long. Please, James - this isn't the time to be Captain Slow!”

James looked at Richard for a long moment, torn between fear and desire. Then all at once he capitulated. “You're right - I couldn't bear that either.” Taking a deep breath, he leant towards Richard and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. Richard sighed, and returned the kiss, lingering a little more. They sat back and looked at each other, then fell into each other's arms, kissing as if they never meant to stop.

When they had to come up for air, Richard asked, “Can we just stay here forever?”

James laughed. “Appealing though that prospect is, I suspect it will lead to the kind of gossip the CO will have to take notice of!” He sighed, and got up reluctantly. “I don't mean to get all Captain Slow about this, but we really should go to the Mess for a while, to keep up appearances. Just for a _little_ while, then we can come back and carry on with this at our leisure. And I strongly suspect I'm going to have to eat in order to keep my energy up!”

Richard snickered. “Yes, among other things! We needn't stay too long - we can plead headaches and leave early... I must say it'll be a change from the usual reason for a headache!”

They both burst out laughing, and set off to the Mess to eat and join their fellow officers in the customary toasts to survival that came after a mission, and also to unobtrusively toast the start of their lives together.

 

**Author's Note:**

> The training film actually exists:
> 
> https://youtu.be/-YQmkjpP6q8
> 
> It's quite fascinating, and includes a section on flying and landing with one engine, but since I'm not James I didn't transcribe it into the story! :)
> 
> No. 98 Squadron were in fact based at RAF Dunsfold for part of the war, they did fly Mitchell bombers, and Wing Commander A.M. Phillips was in command of the squadron during the period in which this story is set.


End file.
